Victory in Jesus!

sing it with me! (you know you want to!)

ok, almost DAILY over the past 2 weeks God and I have celebrated hidden victories of my heart. (more details on that later)

through much prayer, i experienced a victory today that i'm choosing to make PUBLIC!! =)

over 2 weeks ago i was issued a traffic ticket for "running" a red light. the date was 2/9 and the weather was horrible. i chose to coast through the yellow/orange/red light instead of slamming on my brakes. to my surprise the police officer issued me a ticket! $125!!!! one-hundred AND twenty-five dollars!!!

1 week later, i plead not guilty and was scheduled for a pre-trial hearing. it was at this arraignment that i learned that court costs are $138. one-hundred and thirty-eight dollars!!! so if i lose, i end up paying more than double what i would have paid if i would have just paid the ticket!! eeek!

i began praying and gathering data and information on the weather conditions of the day. many canton area activities were cancelled that evening b.c of the snow. almost the whole county was shut down the next day b.c of snow. i gathered all this info. finally i wrote a letter to the judge explaining the situation, asking the charge to be dropped and to be freed of any court costs.

THIS MORNING i went to court prepared for battle! i met w the prosecutor and explained what happened. she said she would recommend the ticket be dismissed, but couldn't make any promises about the court costs.

i went before the judge. he read my letter. smiled at me. read more of the letter. smiled at me again. asked me where i worked. i responded. he told me i wrote well. i said thank you your honor. he said, this charge is dismissed, have a good day. i looked at the clerk and whispered "what do i do now" she said "you can leave." =)

i didn't have to pay for anything!! AND the ticket was dismissed without prejudice!

i, of course, cried in awe and adoration of my KING! you see, God taught me about the opportunity i have to tithe a few years ago. (thank you pastor taylor for our small group lessons) i typically have about $5o or less in my checking account after first tithing and second paying bills (and third buying myself a coach purse 1/2 off for valentine's day). last month, i figured out that i was somehow a month ahead on my mortage so i was able to skip a payment, leaving me with an extra $500. i was prepared and had enough money to cover the cost of the ticket and fines if i needed to. instead, i was able to leave the sweet, friendly waitress at lunch today a big fat tip, pay for my friend's meal and make a love offereing to a new favorite ministry i recently learned about! palmission.org check it out! pal mission is also on facebook!


we no longer fight FOR victory, but FROM victory! thank you Jesus!

HandPrints Sign Choir

some of you may be familiar with my [i'm quite possessive] sign language choir, HandPrints. it was the last practice we had that inspired me to finally get my butt in gear and start my blog.

history: the stark county board of developmental disabilities had another sign language choir called Sounds of Silence from 1983 (the year i was born!) to 2000. they were freaking awesome and even performed for billy clinton. i have/had an aunt w down syndrome that was involved w stark mrdd during this time period, so my family would go to many of the choir's performances. maybe i shouldn't admit this but i always stared at the director and was simply in awe of her the whole time! [so funny because now i know her and she's such a sweet lady!]

2003 - 2004: i took 4 semesters of sign language in college and loved it! i'm not fluent or anything, but it sure is fun, fun, fun! jay mimics me signing in the car quite often. we laugh together!

fast forward to 2006: i have known and loved roxanne korte (missy's mom) for many, many years. we, together have a dream of starting another sign choir. we approached mrdd and got turned down.

2008: we tried again with a written proposal and a team of supporters. score!! in the fall of 2008 HandPrints Sign Choir began. we started with and remain around 20 members. initially my biggest goal for the choir was to have a cool logo (thank you jason nemeth for sharing your awesome techy skills with us) and matching shirts!!! (thank you stark dd for financially supporting us)

how it works: this [totally rad] group of adults with disabilities meets weekly for practice. we pop a cd and i teach them the signs to the lyrics of the songs. i mess up, we laugh together. i act like a lunatic most of the time, we laugh together. jay tells the whole choir that my feet stink right in the middle of a song, we all laugh together. such a good time! i haven't even mentioned the completely AWESOME group of parents and staff people that faithfully bring the choir members each week. without them, i honestly don't think i'd have the energy to do it. they are so helpful and inspiring and affirm that this choir is a true blessing straight from God himself! ok back to the how it works... so after we learn songs, pretty much by word of mouth we book performances at local nursing homes, community events, churches, etc. we go perform and they give us $$, if they want. we don't care about the $$ so much. if we get $$, we usually spend it on important things like pizza parties.

through the choir my love for roxanne has grown! she is our manager and keeps us all, including me, in line and organized. it is super cool that my brother jay is in the choir and my mom helps out every week and at every performance! such a family affair. i have met some awesome people along the way... already mentioned the parents and staff, rebecca cole (shout out!) the director of s.i.g.n. ministries, another sign choir in the area, of course the choir members themselves! and many, many more! it fills my tank to look around at the end of a performance and see the choir members bowing with pride (and usually clapping for themselves) and the audience (and roxanne 99% of the time) in tears as our little group with a smelly-footed director warms the hearts of many!

i have to believe that experiences that purify our hearts in this way can only come from God

post #1

goodie! it only took me 2 1/2 weeks to figure this out!

i'll start with mentioning why i'm 'doing' [is that the correct verb?] a blog in the first place. i know about 6 people with blogs. several of them are young people that live outside the united states, serving Jesus in some capacity. when i get down on my life, feel cranky or selfish or just in a funk, i get online and read of the ways God is working in their lives. it puts my crankiness into perspective. most of the time their words bring me to tears and the experience ends up being such a blessing to me! so, i figured it was my turn to start sharing with the world how God is working in my life, too. i have a feeling this blog is more for me than for the readers. hopefully you might remember to check it occasionally read of God's transforming love in my life and perhaps be challenged as i was to be encouraged and recognize that God is alive and longing to be the center of your life! HE alone is the reason i sing.